Pin and Pull Schemes Qb and RB Variations

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Pin and Pull

The pin and pull scheme is used at both the NFL and college level. Teams such as Auburn under Gus Malzhan and Noel Mazzone ran it at Auburn  and Chip Kelly runs it at UCLA. At the pro level you see teams such as The Buffalo Bills run the play with great success.

It is taken from the old Green Bay sweep. some spread sweep and some old wing T Buck Sweep rules. Some teams will run it using the standard, if uncovered you pull. Other teams will take advantage of angles and block down. Neither way is right or wrong, just teams have preferences on how they do it.. 

The premise of the play is to get a pin and angle on a defensive lineman. The lineman not pinning is the puller.  It allows offenses to take advantage of angles and utitilize offensive lineman to pull and get on the perimeter. The aiming point for the back is similar to outside zone as it is a perimeter run play. You will see teams pull 2-3 uncovered lineman in the scheme and it is an excellent play to get the ball on the edge. 

The play is very similar to the old wing T sweep in many of it's principle:

1. The front side Guard or tackle will block the alley defender. Often times he will either kick out the force defender or log the alley defender. The RB will play off his block and make his cut accordingly.

The front side rules are very simple depending  on who you ask. Some teams will take advantage of angles, If you have a down block, down block. This is true of some teams who will block down on a 3 technque with the tackle. 

Auburn blocks it this way. 

For example, if you have a 4-2 base like below. The TE has a down block and the tackle has a down block, so down block. This can involve anyone from the center out to the playside. Here's Auburn's scheme.
One thing you will notice about Auburn is they love to crack with their wide receivers and have the Guard block the corner to the front side.

Another team that makes a living on this play is Chip Kelly at UCLA. He has always been a pin and pull guru from his days with the Eagles and that continued when he worked with Noel Mazzone at UCLA. 

Here's their variation.

In the next few clips you will see the scheme vs LSU.  

What UCLA does vs the 4-2 scheme is different in the fact that they pull the tackle and center who are uncovered like many traditional teams would do. The traditional theorists would say pull the uncovered lineman.

Teams like UCLA will utilize the QB pin and pull with a lead blocker who is the rb.

They do it with the QB.

2. Here are some other. qb schemes and rules:

Uncovered lineman will pull. In this situation you get a 3 technique and a shade on the backside.

TE=block the 6i

OT=3 tech

PSG= pull first thing outside

Center=shade

BSG=pull 

BST= 5 tech

Now with an end outside, you will often get a kickout by the playside lineman. 

Here the Bills run it out of 12 personnel 

3  QB Pin and Pull:

The Bills love the pin and pull scheme. They will run it at times as a qb pin and pull.

Here they run it in the playoffs vs. The Patriots. They will often do it on 3rd and less than 3 situations. Here its from 3x1 off the fake to the RB.

Nice fake and pull the center and right guard.

Fake wide zone and pull the qb.

In this example, you get a  bear front. The Bills pull the Center and right guard and get a good down block from the tight end and wing. The backside cuts off the nose and defensive tackle. 

Due to the wide outside linebacker the Guard ends up kicking out the outside linebacker and the center turns up for the seal. 

Nice job of pulling by the center and guard. They get a hard force so ball gets turned inside.

 

 

Fake to the rb and get the center and guard to the right. Guard kicks the hard force and center sees it and leads up

Again they get the guard and center pulling. Create angles.

Here they run a similar play vs the Texans They get the nice seal and down blocks and Allen gets a huge gain off the jet action the other way. The Texans are in the under front

Here's a nice qb run for 40 plus yards.

Texas QB Pin and Pull out of empty

TE comes down and cracks the 5

WR blocks #2 

G and Tackle get on the edge

 

Texas goes empty

They run pin and pull

Create nice angles vs the odd front. Nice block,

Tennessee Pin and Pull Schemes vs Bowling Green 2021 (3 film clips are below the write ups)

1st concept

They run it with Center and left guard pulling and the right guard and Rt all blocking back.

They lead with the h back and pull the center and left guard.

Here they pull the guard and tackle and lead with the h back

Nice design.

The 2nd time they read the DE and still pull the center, right guard and right tackle.

Again nice scheme                                                         

nice kick out and lead pin and pull play.

In the last example vs Bowling green they run it with the rb

4-2 front

Right tackle and right guard block the dt and de. 

They pull the center and left guard with the left tackle cutting off the backside

They read the 5 technique 

Nice scheme and design.

 

 

They create good angles pin the de and get 2 guys around with a lead blocker

Empty Pin and Pull from the Utah offense.

Front Bear

Coverage cover 0

They bring the TE in motion and crack on the de. 

#1 wr blocks the SS

Tackle pulls and takes the CB

Nice scheme from Utah

Nice job with motion man cracking and the qb running it out of empty.

Nice job with the lineman getting on the perimeter

Nice angles and run

Ravens version of pin and pull.

They run it off jet motion out of 13 personnel

They get a nice down block vs the under front with the left guard and tackle and pull the center.

Ravens always do a great job with it.

Nice scheme.

Good blocking and down blocks.

Film with the clips above

They run it a 2nd time again for a huge gain.

Again nice angles and blocking with the reduced formation

See the angles. Te gets the good crack and they get the center on the CB by design.

Center kicks out the CB

Tackle gets to the LB

Panthers run pin and pull off of jet sweep action. Bunch formation puts bosa in a 5 technique. 

11 personnel

run jet with #3. SS goes with it and creates angles for the pin and pull the other way.Nice down blocks by

 80 and#2 

Michigan Offense Run schemes: vs Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin and more!

 Michigan has one of the best run games around. They do it with some intricate schemes. They are exciting to watch running the football and combine it with an efficient play action game.  Some of the schemes have come from their relationship with the Ravens, as you will see some of the Ravens schemes in the Michigan offense.

In this article:

(1)  Inside Zone

(2) Zone read slice 

(3) H Back Trap 

(4) Pin and Pull

(5) Counter

Inside Zone

2 examples of Inside zone were huge gains vs Ohio State

Vs  Michigan they run Inside  zone and catch Ohio State in a stunt. Knowles is in his Hybrid 4-2-5 front and they run a game with the stand up player to the side of the back. The nose guard goes b gap to the side of the rb and that LB loops to the play side A. The LB to the side of #7 who is off goes off a and the will LB has the b gap. Knowles made this famous at Oklahoma St. (See my post on it)

https://coachkoufootball.blogspot.com/2022/04/ohio-state-defense-2022-under-jim.html

You can see the movement as Michigan handles the hybrid LB and nose and the center is waiting for the LB who needs to get play side A gap.

The center picks up the LB and the frontside guard and tackle do a great job handling the LB and de. Look at the crease it creates. The cb is in man coverage so he has to take the #1 wr who just runs him off and they are off to the races. 

You can see the hole opening up and the RB is off to the races.

Below you see the cb getting run off by the #1 wr

The same play on the next series

The defense 4-3 cover 0

Both DT are playing A gaps. The problem on this play is the MLB doesn't scrape over the top to the play side b gap and they get a huge gain on the play. The scheme was sound but the LB has to get b gap with the play side olb filling outside in. Good design but nice execution by Michigan.

Straight Cover 0, Safety walked up to the H back side.

End Zone view

they go double a gaps with the DT 

Gap responsibly and they are plus 2 in the run game.

The mike doesn't get over the top and the center reaches the play side a gap DT  which creates a seem. Nice job by Michigan Center on both run plays. Nice job up friend as they get enough push to create a seem for the rb.

DT can't get off, mike gets caught in the wash and Edwards gets the seem he needs. 

Nice run and execution.

2 plays I really like are there H trap vs odd fronts and the zone read with both h backs leading if the ball is pulled.

#1 H Trap

Michigan runs  unique h trap vs Wisconsin who is in an odd front.

A couple interesting parts about this play.

#1 They go trips unbalanced  to the boundary

 12 personnel 

#2 They trap with the h back but also running iso with the fb.

They end up trapping with the h back and leading the other fb on the LB. It is a nice scheme and design with the fan on the frontside. 

                                      

      They ran this vs Wisconsin.                                    

 Nice job on the trap block vs the odd tight front alignment with the 2 defensive ends playing 4i.

They get a nice block and you can see the left side fanning it.

Here's 2 clips of the trap play vs the odd front. 

Zone Read:

Michigan end over  with 2 backs in the backfield. They bring the wr in motion and run the zone read with 2 lead blockers. It's a great counter for the teams that spill it because now you can get the 2nd h back on the lb after the de spills it. It's a nice change up and design in the run game.

Here's the zone read with 2 lead blockers. They can do it with 2 h backs or motioning with a wr and doing that way as well.

QB makes the good read

They get 2 on 2 on the perimeter.

TE seems and they get the good blocking on the perimeter. 

See the clip below.

Another version of the same play. This time they come out in 3x1 and come back to the single side with it. Nice job of getting both h backs out in front and this play is a touchdown if the safety doesn't Make a great play. Penn State was trying to spill it and the h backs read it and get on the edge. Again a great scheme and Nice play by the Penn State td stopping it from being a td. 

Penn State tries to spill it and the h backs get on the perimeter. 

They get the 2 blockers on the perimeter.

Here is the clip of the play.

One more version of the play for a nice 15 yard gain.

Again they get the 2 blockers leading it.

De plays the RB which allows the 2 blockers to get on the edge and lead block it.

They have a nice situation as both H backs turn the corner.

Good play design and execution.

Counter 

Michigan will run some great counter blocking schemes. 

Vs Ohio State, they get a 4-3 vs 12 so they decide to run it away from the tight end at the 1 technique. They pull the center and tackle on the play to create better angles.

see it start to develop.

They get the guard on the good kickout

Good execution.

Here's the same scheme vs Washington.  They pull the center and h back vs the 4-2 front to the side of the 2i. 

LG- block the 2i

LT block play side LB

C- pull and kick out

RG-block DT 3 tech his side

RT-Block DE to his side.

H-pull and look for lb

Center makes a good block as they take advantage of the angle. 

The h leads thru and its a nice gain.

Nice job as the RB breaks free.

 Clip Below.

Pin and Pull

The Pin and pull is a major play in the offense and they can block it various ways with different pullers depending on leverage to gain advantages by creating angles. 

They go trips to the field and Penn State goes corner over. They have the OLB to the bottom of the screen. The Tackle does a nice job on the play kicking the olb out and the running back reads the block nicely and cuts it inside. They get good angles and run it for a 15 yard gain. 

The OT kicks out and the rb reads it and makes an excellent cut.  Nice job on the read.

They get the nice kickout and the RB turns it up. 

Big gain.

Here/s another big run vs Penn State 3x1. They run it again to the backside te side of 3x1. 

Get the ball on the edge and hit it for a big gain.

They seal the outside and get the nice pull by the lineman

Tackle kicks out the olb, the guard logs the other inside lb and they are off for a nice 7- yard gain.

They get the tackle and guard on the outside which makes the play.

RB breaks free for a good gain on the play/

See clip below.

Vs Colorado State-They run it at the 1 tech or 2i. They get a 2i and a 9 tech(end outside)

The Scheme

TE-block the corner

PST-block down

PSG block the 2i

Center-pull and kickout

Backside Guard-block 3 tech

Backside Tackle-pull for the LB

Nice scheme and design

even front

They pull the center and backside tackle on it.

good execution.

Vs under front on the goaline, they run it with the wing te with a 2i(tough to tell, 5 and a 9)

PSW-blocks the 9

TE-blocks the 5

T-blocks down

G-pulls and kicks

C-logs the lb

backside og, to cut off.

You see the RG and Center pull on it. 

They get a great down block and and both the Center and guard on the perimeter.

RB reads the kickoff and they get a nice run for the TD.

Here's 3 additional clips of the Michigan Pin and Pull.

I hope you enjoyed this article and the Clips of the Michigan Run Offense.